The Diary of Utsuho Reiuji
by Stubborn-Virus
Summary: Shortly before the events of Subterranean Animism, a childish hell raven writes down her thoughts on paper. Rated M for swearing, slurs, and references to alcohol.


Ms. Koishi says that it's good to put my thoughts down on paper, cause then I think about them more. She says that I need practice writing too. So I'mma write things. Okay? My name is Utsuho Reiuji, but you can call me Okuu. It's what Orin calls me. She's really nice. I'm a hell raven, and I live in this big palace underground. I live here with Orin, who's a cat, and Ms. Satori and Ms. Koishi, who are sisters. They take care of me and Orin and are so nice. They give me crayons and paper to draw with, and they tuck me in at night and tell me stories about the oni and tengu and stuff. They're my family, and I love them so much.

Today Ms. Satori took me with her to the market. She didn't let me get any candy today, which made me sad, but she promised that to make it up, she'd help me cut out some kirigami ravens. She doesn't let me use the scissors very often, 'cause they're sharp, so I like it when she helps me. I wonder, are there scissors that are a bit not so sharp, for people like me?

Orin says that there's this world Outside, with all sorts of cool stuff, and that's where my crayons come from. I asked if we could visit someday, but she said no, cause it's too far away. She says it's even further than the surface, which is really far away! I'd like to go to the surface some day.

A new friend showed up today! This tall lady came to visit Ms. Satori, and she brought this girl with blonde hair and a funny hat. I asked her to play with me, and she did! We played "shooting bullets" until Ms. Koishi called me in for dinner. My new friend says her name is Suwako. It's a funny name, but I guess my name might be funny to them, too.

The tall lady came back again, but no Suwako this time. The tall lady wanted to talk to me and Orin today, actually- I found out her name was Ms. Kanako, and that she was from the surface. She asked me and Orin about how Ms. Satori treated us, and what it was like underground all the time. I told her that I liked it here, and that I have friends, but I'd like to make more friends too. She smiled, and said that she and Suwako could be my friends. I felt really happy.

Today Ms. Koishi was working on her scrapbook. She asked me to draw some pictures for it, so I drew a nice picture of me and her with Orin and Ms. Satori. I ran out of my green crayon, though, so I need a new one. Ms. Koishi says that she really likes it, and says that I'm so good at art. She also said that I should draw Ms. Satori for her birthday, which is in a few weeks.

Ms. Kanako visited again today. She brought Suwako and another person, Sanae. We played "shooting bullets" again.

Ms. Satori looked really happy after Ms. Kanako left. She and Ms. Koishi were talking about how something was gonna be great for the Underground. I asked them what was gonna be great, and they told me that Ms. Kanako and Suwako wanted to build something called a "nucklar ractar". I don't know what that is, but it sounds cool.

Ms. Kanako asked me and Orin to show her the insides of Former Hell. So we took her there. Ms. Satori says that's where I used to live before she found me, but I don't remember it very well. I do know that there are other hell ravens there, but they don't like me much, 'cause I live with Ms. Satori. Ms. Kanako was really interested in the main chamber. She put a thing in the magma to see how hot it was, and also used a funny little tool that extended to see how big the main chamber was. I guess she found what she was looking for, cause she looked really happy afterwords.

Ms. Satori has a big meeting in the central square of the Underground today. I stayed home, cause I wasn't feeling to good, but Orin says she'll tell me everything when it's over. While they're doing that, I'm going to draw some more. Do you think that Ms. Kanako would like a drawing of her? I think she would.

Ms. Kanako came to visit again. She had some papers which she asked Ms. Satori and Ms. Koishi to sign. Ms. Yuugi, who's an oni, also came over to sign some papers. She's pretty scary, but she's nice. They all signed stuff, and then they had a little party. I couldn't go 'cause they were having sake, which Ms. Satori says is bad for Okuus, but Ms. Kanako gave me a new box of crayons, so it's okay.

Ms. Koishi got really hurt today. She went up to visit Ms. Kanako, but when she came back, she was bleeding and crying and stuff. Ms. Satori went to one of the oni doctors for help, while Orin and I tried to comfort her. Ms. Koishi said that the people up above were being mean to her, because she could read their minds. I don't understand why that was a problem. Ms. Koishi and Ms. Satori are so polite, and it's just part of who they are. Do people above not read minds, like the oni, Orin and me? I guess not, but just because someone can shouldn't be a reason to be a meanie.

Ms. Koishi went back up to the surface. Ms. Satori and Orin tried to keep her from doing it, but Ms. Koishi insisted on it. I hope she doesn't get hurt.

Ms. Koishi has been missing for a few days. Ms. Satori's getting really worried. She's talked to Ms. Yuugi about possibly sending up an oni to track her down, even though the oni don't like the surface. I hope she's alright. I don't want anything to happen to her.

Ms. Koishi was hurt even worse this time. She had so many bruises that I could barely recognize her. Orin had to hold her up so she wouldn't fall over. Ms. Satori kept crying and asking what she was thinking, but all Ms. Koishi said was "They're afraid of us, even when we want to be friends. It's our third eyes, our mind-reading. If only that wasn't there..."

It's awful. Ms. Koishi is gone, and Ms. Satori has gone to her study with a lot of sake. Orin says she needs time to think it over, what happened and stuff. Ms. Koishi took a needle and sewed her third eye shut. She said that if she did that, then she wouldn't be able to mind-read and people wouldn't hate her. But it did something bad to her. It made her all quiet. She just floats around staring at nothing. Orin says that she's invisible half the time, but I can see her fine. Even worse is that some people don't even remember her. Ms. Yuugi came over, and at one point asked who the girl with the green hair in Ms. Koishi's scrapbook was.

Orin says that she didn't mean it, but Ms. Satori hit me and made me cry. I went to her study because I had left my crayons there, and she was in it, crying and surrounded by lots of empty sake bottles. When she saw me, she started screaming some really bad words at me. I don't know what they mean, but Orin says they were bad, and I believe her. Ms. Satori called me a "fucking retard" a lot when she yelled, and I kinda don't want to know what that means. But yeah. Ms. Satori yelled at me until I cried, and then she slapped me. It hurt a lot. I didn't know what I did wrong, so I left and cried some more, before Orin found me.

Orin told me that Ms. Satori didn't mean to hit me or to say all those mean things. Ms. Satori was just really sad because Ms. Koishi was gone, and the sake she was drinking made her go out of control. I guess that's why I can't have any- I don't want to go out of control. I feel bad for Ms. Satori.

Ms. Kanako came by today. Ms. Satori was really mad at her, even though she wasn't drinking this time, and they played a really rough match of "shooting bullets". I got bored watching them, however, and drew a picture of the Underground. It was much more interesting.

Ms. Satori says I'm not allowed to see Ms. Kanako and her friends anymore. I asked why, and Ms. Satori said that it's because Ms. Kanako is a "fucking surface dweller and it's her fault that Ms. Koishi is broken." I really should ask Orin what that "fucking" word really means. I think it means "big meanie".

Orin and I decided to walk through Former Hell today. She showed me the spot where they found me. Orin says I had fallen out of my family's nest and landed on my head, but I didn't see a nest around. I did see a giant metal thing being built in the middle of the main magma pool. I was going to swim over to it, but Orin said I shouldn't, cause the magma is too deep to swim through. She did let me play in the shallows a bit before I left. I hear that people on the surface swim in water instead of magma. Do you think that's true? it seems kind of silly, because water is for drinking.

Ms. Kanako came back today, but Ms. Satori refused to open the door. She locked the door, and yelled the "fucking" word a few times until Ms. Kanako went away. Ms. Satori isn't feeling too well lately- she misses Ms. Koishi a lot. So do me and Orin, but Ms. Koishi was Ms. Satori's sister, so it has to be a whole lot worse.

Ms. Satori's birthday is in a few days. Usually by now, Ms. Koishi would have put up so many decorations that Ms. Satori would get annoyed and ask her to take them down. But with Ms. Koishi gone, Ms. Satori just mopes around all sad. I asked her to take me to the market, but Ms. Satori said she didn't feel like it, and I was old enough to go by myself. I've never gone by myself, but there's a first time for everything.

Ms. Kanako was in the market square, surround by a bunch of other Hell Ravens. I don't know what they were doing outside of the main chamber, but they looked pretty excited. I decided to go have a look, and I found out that Ms. Kanako was looking for a volunteer for something with the "nucklar ractar" I was going to leave at first, but then Ms. Kanako mentioned that the volunteer would get lots and lots of power. A few of the ravens asked her what kind, and she said "Ultimate power." Even I was curious after that, so I signed up.

Ms. Kanako took me and about five other ravens into a building where Suwako and Sanae were. Ms. Kanako explained some things, but I didn't understand them. I don't think she recognized me, but Suwako did, and she waved at me.

Ms. Kanako ran some tests on all of us, weighing us, asking us questions about maths that made my brain hurt, and even some about if we were any good at "shooting bullets" At the end, Ms. Kanako lined us all up, and chose one of the other ravens to follow her into another room. A few minutes later, she came back, and took me back there. Inside the room, I saw the dead body of the previous raven. I asked what happened, but Suwako said it wasn't important. What was important, she said, was to see if I would "Bond with the great god Yatagarasu, and imbibe its power" They set me down on a chair, and said some funny words. I blacked out, but when I woke up, I was taller, and I had a third eye like Ms. Satori, except this one was on my chest, not attached to me by cords. Ms. Kanako and Suwako looked happy, and gave me some weird meat to eat, before sending me and the other ravens home. I don't know what I ate, but it was tasty.

I don't think Ms. Satori is very happy. I went home to show off all the changes that Ms. Kanako did, and Ms. Satori freaked out. She said more mean words about surface dwellers, and how they had first taken Ms. Koishi, and now Utsuho! Then she started crying and crying. I tried to comfort her, but she told me to get away. It hurts so much, to see your family angry at you. If only there was some way to make it up for her.

Ms. Kanako came by while Ms. Satori was asleep last night. She had a surprise for me- a pouch filled with Spellcards, a weird stone boot, and a weird thing that went over my arm. I had never used a real Spellcard before- I only used some basic bullet attacks. Ms. Kanako said that the Spellcards and the things would help me channel my new power. She then took me into the main chamber of Former Hell. The metal thing I had seen before was built now- it was a big ball with tubes sucking up magma and spitting it back out. There were some walkways above it, and some ravens were flying around it. "Behold! The Moriya 1 Nuclear Reactor!" said Ms. Kanako, as she led me in. There was a big open space at the center of the ball, which she pointed to, and told me, "Okay, use one of the Spellcards now," which I did. When I did, the thingy on my arm shot out a big bullet, which turned into this big warm ball of light and heat and stuff. Ms. Kanako clapped and told me I had created my first artificial sun. Orin says the sun is where people get light from on the surface, since I guess they don't use light-stones or lamps. Ms. Kanako then led me away, to show me some spinning dials. "Look, Utsuho. Your power is providing us with enough electricity to revolutionize the realm!" I didn't know what some of those words meant, so I just nodded. Ms. Kanako then brought me to the market, and bought me some sweets, and gave me a letter to give to Ms. Satori. She also gave me a warning. "Be careful with that power. You might accidentally break something- you probably have enough power to destroy the surface, in fact!"

And suddenly, I knew what I had to do.

Ms. Satori's birthday is in a few days. She spends most of her time in her study, trying to find a way to fix Ms. Koishi. Orin spends a lot of time in the magma chamber, finding bodies of injured ravens and tossing them in the magma. Without Ms. Satori to control her, she's gone a bit crazy.

But I know what to do to make Ms. Satori feel better. The surface world is the ones who stole Ms. Koishi from her. So for her birthday present, I'm going to destroy it for her. She will be so happy! I'm sure I can trust you to keep a secret, diary. I'm going to have to stop writing in you for a few days, while I prepare.

Before I had this power, I was going to draw a picture for Ms. Satori with my crayons. But I accidentally melted them, making this beautiful puddle of wax. When I melt the surface, I wonder, will it be that pretty? I hope so.

"_Okuu?" asked the hell cat as she entered Utsuho's room. The raven had been quiet lately, and had taken to spending more and more time in the nuclear reactor. As expected, Okuu wasn't there, only a few feathers left on the floor. _

_Rin was about to leave, when something caught her eye. A brightly colored puddle of solidified wax. She sighed- Ustuho had melted all her crayons together, wasting them. She picked it up, to throw it out, when something else caught her attention- a book labeled in crayon as 'Diary'. Rin resisted for a second, before temptation overpowered her and she took a glance._

_She instantly wished she had not._

"_Dammit... This is bad," she said, examining the last few pages. "I have to stop her... but how? Satori is still moping, and I don't have enough power to stop Okuu... but..."_

_Of course! The goddesses that gave Utsuho this power! If they knew something was wrong, they might send someone tough down to stop her! Some big burly youkai, maybe? They would have to send someone like that, in order to stop the raven._

_Rin stashed the diary in a pouch on her belt, before running off to collect some things. She had a job to do._


End file.
